Tuesday, May 27, 2008

shouzan

There is a huge recreation area near Satoshi's parents house called Shouzan. When Satoshi was growing up he and his brother would often go to the pool there during the summers.

The property has been reformed a bit and now holds several wedding chapels and party facilities. They also still have the bowling alley, pool, a large Japanese garden, several restaurants and cafes.

After the disastrous 49-day service, Satoshi's mom wanted to make amends with the relatives and have a late lunch after the 100-day service, which will be held at the end of June.

Since we went to visit her on Sunday, Satoshi's brother also stopped by, and she felt it was a good chance to check out Shouzan to see what kind of atmosphere their restaurants had.

When we arrived, Satoshi ran into his classmate, who works there, they chatted for a bit and exchanged business cards.

We then went to the Japanese restaurant, Senjukaku. The restaurant was full for the day, so we weren't able to taste the food or look at the rooms, but this is where we will be eating on the day of the 100-day service. Business cards were exchanged and we were shown to their yuka (summer eating area).

In Kyoto, especially near Kamo River, there are many yuka (literally means floor but are places to eat outside near the river), kind of like a terrace but you sit on the floor.

Shouzan has a kawadoko called Keiryoyuka. Sitting near the river was actually quite cold, but very relaxing.

The restaurant had two types of courses for lunch. One was 4042 yen (about US$40) and another one for 5775 yen (about US$58). Since there was 4 of us, we decided to get two of each and try the different foods from each others course.

The difference in price also meant a difference in presentation and quality of foods.

The first course was appetizers, the photo on the left is the more expensive courses foods. (inside of the shrimp was karasumi (bottarga)--this was my first time eating it and it reminded me of cheddar cheese.)

The next course was the sashimi course.

This was a dish that both courses received.

Next came the fried course, this was only for the more expensive course.

Then came the fish course, a whole ayu (river smelt)--the more expensive course came with a tiny crab and some soy beans.

The rice and soup course came next, the goodies in the soup were different and the kind of tsukemono (pickled veggies) were different--by this point, the waitress was all confused as to who had what course so, the tsukemono got mixed up....

Lastly was the dessert course--wasabi pudding and watermelon (not sure which was for what course, though my first impression of receiving wasabi pudding was that I had lost some kind of bet and had the boobie prize). Surprisingly, this pudding wasn't spicy, but sweet and there was a slight tingle as you ate it.

It was a nice lunch, I think Satoshi's mom enjoyed herself. She was also happy to be able to find a nice place for lunch for the 100-day service.

Very detailed meal. I really liked the presentation of the fried smelt with the tiny crab. The leaf plate and small bowl of green liquid (what was that liquid?) just makes it too beautiful to eat. I would have been just wowed by the whole experience.